California Injury Blog
Was the truck illegally parked and that was the cause of this accident? Or was the driver of the Honda Accord at fault? The California Highway Patrol is investigating.
In Corona, California, about 2:00 a.m. this morning on the eastbound shoulder of the Riverside (91) Freeway a 2008 Honda Accord collided with the back of a parked big rig truck, wedging itself beneath the semi truck, according to authorities as reported on the CBS2 website.
The two occupants of the Honda Accord were trapped inside the car, one of them for 75 minutes, before rescuers extradited them from the vehicle according to a Corona Fire Department Battalion Chief. The rescued Honda occupants were not identified. However the chief did say that the male occupant suffered moderate injuries and the female occupant was taken to a hospital in critical condition.
If the big rig truck was illegally parked, especially if it was in a “recovery zone” then the driver of the truck and his company may be liable for the injuries and damages suffered by the occupants of the Honda. We have handled a number of similar cases. In each case the big rig truck was parked illegally and the illegal parking was a substantial factor in the accident and injuries. Our clients recovered from the trucking company in each of those cases.
It may be that the big rig truck had every right to be where it was, violated no laws and was legally parked. In that case, without other mitigating facts, the Honda driver would be responsible for the accident as well as the injuries to the passenger and the damages to the big rig. I’d bet that the CHP would also ticket the Honda driver if that were the case. If the Honda driver were intoxicated he/she could be charged with a felony.
Nationwide, there were 54,104 large truck involved accidents resulting in 81,312 injuries. In California there were 4,023 accidents involving large trucks, resulting in 5,780 injuries. These statistics are the 2006 preliminary numbers derived from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and the Motor Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS)